U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,223,165 and 6,523,010 issued to Lauffer both teach a method of and an apparatus for facilitating the delivery of advice to consumers using a server unit that can store and display the names and characteristics of experts and then rapidly assist in connecting the expert and consumer for real-time communication. The server can also have the ability to receive keywords from the consumer, match those keywords to one or more experts, and tell the consumer how to contact an expert.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,801,899 issued to Lauffer teaches techniques for delivering information electronically and, more particularly, for delivering advice to consumers from a diverse set of experts. Lauffer also teaches systems and methods for matching consumers' questions with experts, displaying available experts for consumer viewing and selection, providing for compensation from consumers to experts, and providing for the connection between consumer and experts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,865,540 issued to Faber, et al. teaches a method and apparatus for implementing group calling that includes displaying a service provider, a service provider rate for communicating with the service provider, and a real-time indication of whether the service provider is available. The method taught includes the steps of: receiving a request from a first customer to communicate with the service provider and connecting the first customer to the service provider through a link capable of transmitting from the service provider to the first customer, receiving a request from a second customer to communicate with the service provider and connecting the second customer to the service provider through a link capable of transmitting from the service provider to the second customer while the first customer is coupled to the service provider, billing the first customer automatically based on the time during which the link to the first customer is maintained; and billing the second customer automatically based on the time during which the link to the second customer is maintained.
As observed in the marketplace, IP network builders or providers were still limited to the convention wisdoms of the old telephony industry. Users are given very little or no choice to leverage on their knowledge base to transform the perceived value in multimedia enhanced IP communications into financial benefit, not to mention the opportunity to participate in an open market for the acquisition of useful digital contents from sources that price their contents in a competitive fashion.